Saturday Walkers Club www.walkingclub.org.uk Hever to Ashurst walk A surprisingly remote part of the High Weald on the Kent/East Sussex border. Length Main Walk: 16¼ km (10.1 miles). Three hours 55 minutes walking time. For the whole excursion including trains, sights and meals, allow at least 8 hours. Short Walk 1, starting from Cowden: 12½ km (7.8 miles). Three hours walking time. Short Walk 2, finishing at Cowden: 11½ km (7.1 miles). Two hours 40 minutes walking time. OS Maps Explorers 147 & 135. Hever station, map reference TQ465445, is in Kent, 3 km SE of Edenbridge. Toughness 4 out of 10 (3 and 2 for the Short Walks). Features This walk takes in a quiet part of the High Weald on the border of Kent and East Sussex. At its centre is the sleepy village of Cowden, whose surprisingly industrial past is preserved in some evocative local names: The Old Forge, Furnace Pond, etc. The village did indeed have a blast furnace from 1573 and the region's plentiful supplies of iron ore supported a thriving industry until the 18thC, when coke from the northern coalfields replaced charcoal from local trees as the preferred fuel. The walk route passes several attractive old manor houses but the area's well-known historic houses which are open to the public (Hever Castle, Penshurst Place, etc) are all on the other side of the railway. Away from the tourist coaches, this is a surprisingly remote area of low hills and wooded valleys with some fine bluebell woods, notably Heathersome's Wood and Coomb Wood. As with any walk in the High Weald, you will need to be prepared for muddy or waterlogged paths at almost any time of the year. Some of the little-used footpaths on the walk route are not easy to follow, especially when overgrown in summer. https://www.walkingclub.org.uk/walk/hever-to-ashurst/ 1/12 Walk Two link routes are described between Cowden village and its station (2 km Options away by road) which in effect split the walk into two Short Walks. The first would be worth considering if you missed the train out: you could start from Cowden station an hour later and get to the village at about the same time as the main group. For a longer walk you could combine the Cowden finish with one of the variations of the Cowden to Hever walk (#78), creating a long Hever or Cowden Circular walk. You will need to print those directions from the other walk document. Additional An alternative afternoon route was dropped when the White Horse at Holtye Notes closed in 2014. Without the option of a second lunch pub there was little point in retaining this slightly longer route. A rather artificial extension (out and back along the valley between Cowden and Moat Farm) has also been dropped. However, these sections are part of the Short Walk routes to and from Cowden station and could be inserted into the Main Walk. Transport Hever, Cowden and Ashurst are adjacent stations on the Oxted–Uckfield line, which has an hourly service from London Bridge, taking 40 minutes to Hever (longer on Sundays, when you have to change at East Croydon and/or Oxted). Buy a return to Ashurst (Kent) (or Cowden if you will be finishing there). If driving, there is a large privately-owned parking area next to Hever station which costs £2.50 at all times. Cowden station has a small free car park “for Railway users only”; the one at Ashurst costs £2.90 Mon–Fri, free at weekends (2021). Suggested Take the train nearest to 10:00 from London Bridge to Hever. If you are Train doing Short Walk 1 from Cowden and want a pub lunch in the village, leave an hour later. Lunch The only pub on the walk route is The Fountain (01342-850528) in Cowden village, 7¾ km from Hever (4 km from Cowden station). This is an attractive village pub with a new conservatory and a secluded beer garden. It serves good home-made food up to 2pm (3pm on Sundays), but is closed Monday lunchtimes (except Bank Holidays). At weekends it is popular with walking and cycling groups, so call ahead to book a table. Tea There are few refreshment places in this remote countryside, but the routes to Ashurst pass the Perryhill Orchard Farm Shop & Tea Rooms (01892- 770595) in mid-afternoon. The Farm Shop is open daily to 5pm and sells a tempting range of local ciders (which you can taste beforehand); the tearoom closes at 4.30pm. Allow at least an hour to reach Ashurst station, 4 km away. https://www.walkingclub.org.uk/walk/hever-to-ashurst/ 2/12 There are no other refreshment places before Ashurst station, and none at all on the link route to Cowden station. However, you could break your return journey at Oxted, which has several cafés and coffee shops plus a conveniently placed JD Wetherspoon's pub right next to the station, the Oxted Inn (01883-723440). Help Us! After the walk, we would love to get your feedback You can upload photos to the ⬤⬤ SWC Group on Flickr (upload your photos) and videos to Youtube. This walk's tags are: swcwalks swcwalk175 By Car Start TN8 7ER Finish TN3 9TL Help National Rail: 03457 48 49 50 • Travelline (bus times): 0871 200 22 33 (12p/min) • TFL (London) : 0343 222 1234 Version Jul-21 Copyright © Saturday Walkers Club. All Rights Reserved. No commercial use. No copying. No derivatives. Free with attribution for one time non-commercial use only. www.walkingclub.org.uk/site/license.shtml Walk Directions https://www.walkingclub.org.uk/walk/hever-to-ashurst/ 3/12 Walk Map All maps © OpenStreetMap contributors Walk Options M. Main Walk (16¼ km) a. Short Walk 1, starting from Cowden (12½ km) b. Short Walk 2, finishing at Cowden (11½ km) https://www.walkingclub.org.uk/walk/hever-to-ashurst/ 4/12 Walk Directions If you are doing a Short Walk from Cowden station, start at §E. A. Hever Station to Christmas Mill (2½ km) 1. Arriving from London, do not exit through the station car park but cross the footbridge and take a fenced path sloping up the bank. At the top turn sharp right at a path junction, joining the Eden Valley Walk1 (EVW). Go through a metal kissing gate into a large field and continue along its right-hand edge for a short distance, where it opens out. You will be leaving this irregularly-shaped field away to the left, but the right of way takes an indirect route which perhaps reflects older field boundaries. 2. Start by aiming for the left-hand end of a copse 150m ahead. There is a waymarker post there indicating that you turn left to head for the left-hand end of another group of trees, also 150m away. Continue alongside this second group of trees (which you will find are concealing a large pond), keeping them on your right. 3. Follow the field edge round to the right, going over a stile next to the trees along the way. Just before reaching a fieldgate in the corner go through a metal side gate in the wire fence and bear left onto a farm track, passing a barn and then a house on your right. Before the track turns right, veer left at a footpath marker post onto a grassy path, continuing through a wooden gate into a private garden. 4. Follow the gravel path round to the right of Lydens Barn and continue along its driveway past a restored oast house to Lydens Lane. Turn left (leaving the EVW) and go along this quiet lane for 700m to a T-junction with the B2026. 5. Cross the main road carefully and go over a stile to continue on a grassy track between hedges. At the end go over another stile and turn half-right to go along the bottom of a large field, maintaining direction where the hedge bends right after 200m. Continue on a fenced track along the bottom of the next field. 6. At the end go over an unobtrusive stile to the right of a metal fieldgate, cross a lane and go through a small metal gate to continue along the right-hand edge of three more fields. In the third field follow a grassy path round to the left to the top corner (ignoring an exit in the bottom corner and a gate into a private garden). Go past an oak tree and over a stile to come out onto a lane at a bend. B. Christmas Mill to Crippenden Manor (2 km) 7. Turn left onto the lane to go uphill, with glimpses of a large old mill pond behind the trees on your right. Where the lane curves round to the left keep ahead on the driveway to “Ockhams”, signposted as a footpath and going gently downhill. At the bottom of the slope, where the drive goes between two ponds, turn left over a stile beside a large oak tree to go alongside the smaller pond, heading SE. 8. At the end of the pond continue in the same direction, going gently uphill across a field. On the far side go over a stile, across a concrete driveway and over another stile into the next field, with two faint grassy paths ahead. At the time of writing the right of way was the right-hand path, which goes through a makeshift gate in a new wire fence up to the field corner and continues through a new private garden.